I believe I mentioned, in my last writing update, about having submitted one of my novels to Angry Robot Books. Well, it took a year and a half – mainly due to some kind of email snafu – but I have news.

No joy.

It looked good, but it turns out they had to pass on my novel, Drawn to Flame, as they had another novel with a similar premise already in the pipeline.

Not sure what to say about that except that, if that was the main reason they took a pass, then it’s fairly high praise and a better response than I have gotten from any of the agents I have – in the last 4 years – queried about representation.

As far as that novel goes, I have friends that want me to say, “fuck it,” and self publish. It’s an option I’m keeping open, but for later. Right now it’s back to the agent hunt.

My reason is fairly simple: I just don’t have the time right now to do everything I would have to do to even have a hope of success in self publishing. I have one more semester before I get my undergrad degree and I’m getting married in October. What little time I have outside of all that and work, I’d like to spend actually writing, as opposed to trying to promote my writing.

(Also, regarding promotion, I haven’t seen a single comment about the one story I posted for free, on this site. I’m not even sure if anyone read it. So, it will take just a bit more effort than posting it up and hoping for the best. There’s art to be commissioned, a free-lance editor/ copy editor to hire and have give the manuscript a close eye. Then there is the time to format and promote. And I’m not entirely sure how to go about promoting the thing myself. I have a small circle of friends, but I’m not the most sociable person in the world.)

So, the Third Eye Detective agency series isn’t dead, but at roughly 70k words into the second book, I’m going to put the brakes on that writing project. I’ll probably finish this novel, but it won’t be my priority.

I am still trying to sell short stories. unfortunately, the story I have circulating currently, “The Gray Lady”, is about 12k words in length. That puts a bit of a limit on the magazines I can send it to unsolicited. If I were a more established writer, with more credits to my name – I could pitch it to a few others, but not having credits, I really have to go with whoever says they’ll take that length without special circumstances.

So, “The Gray Lady”, has already been rejected by one venue and is waiting to be considered at another. This one passes, there are 3-4 more I can try.

Beyond that, I’m working on reworking some pieces that are prequels to “The Gray Lady”, involving the same characters, but from earlier on and from different character’s points of view.

By the way, for those of you that haven’t read it, “The Gray Lady” is a fantasy piece that focuses on the clash between a native tradition/ religion/ magic and an invading culture/ tradition/ magic. It’s got a pre-Christian, Irish flavor to it. I like it, but it’s long.

In other news, I have another short story, “The 13th Hour” which I am currently reworking into novel form. It’s coming along, but it’s weird, even for me. And that’s saying something. So, I’m taking my time with it. It was weird in the short form, it’s getting weirder and darker as I write.

So, that’s my writing update. I’m still writing. Still trying to sell. Still trying to have something for you to read, some place other than here in these pseudo-hallowed pages.

3 Responses to Writing Updatery

I am sorry to hear that it is stalled for no but after reading this entry I understand your reservations about self-publishing. It is a huge that the only reason for denial was they had something similar ahead of you! Still stinks. I love style even when it is weird…maybe even more! I can’t wait to read more.